I’m getting back into cooking and I found this BERRY AND BUTTERMILK CAKE recipe in “Apples for jam” by Tessa Kiros. And it was handy I had fresh blueberries in my fridge ( a very limited and expensive season here in Perth). Very simple to make, not much sugar in it and quick to bake.

315g plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
90g caster sugar
freshly ground nutmeg
2 eggs
250ml (1 cup) buttermilk
60g butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
150g fresh blueberries
2 tablespoons Demerara sugar

makes 12-15 squares

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. grease and flour a 30×20cm tin with sides at least 5cm high.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add the sugar and a few grinds of nutmeg. Put the eggs in a bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the buttermilk, butter and lemon zest and beat together well. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix gently with a wooden spoon just until everything is combined. If you beat too hard the cake will be tough.
3. Spoon the mixture into the tin, spreading it thinly to reach all four sides. Scatter the blueberries over the top and sprinkle these with Demerara sugar
4. Put in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares. This keeps well in a biscuit tin for up to a week.
5. Eat!

Tessa Kiros says that strawberries also work but suggests that frozen berries are ” a bit too mushy and will collapse”. I think that as long as they are defrosted and strained, it should be ok.
The cake’s texture is a bit “spongy”. Next time, I will add berries in the mix as well as on top of the cake. I used ground nutmeg because I don’t have any fresh. Be careful with the amount you put in, nutmeg has a strong flavour.
I didn’t have a rectangular tin, so I used a 20cm round cake tin. I baked the cake for about 40 minutes, until there was a bit of colour from the sugar on top.